1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of anchors, and in particular is directed to land anchors that may be driven into the earth, or other stationary or stable objects. This invention is particularly useful for use as a land anchor for tethering boats or other water-borne objects and land-borne objects, and methods of use of the land anchor.
2. Description of Related Art
Anchors are well known in the art for securing a vessel to a seabed. The Fisherman""s anchor, Danforth anchor, Bruce anchor, and folding grapnel are just a few of the many types of anchors known for seabed anchoring. A mooring line or rode connects the anchor to the vessel. When lowered onto the seabed, the anchors and mooring line function to retain the vessel in its desired location and prevent drifting of the vessel far from the desired location.
Smaller vessels, such as sailboats and small yachts, often rely shore-docking devices for inhibiting drifting and permitting ingress and egress to and from the vessel. Most commonly, smaller vessels use a rope or multiple ropes for tying to docks.
It is often the case, however, that boaters wish to dock their vessels at locations lacking conventional boat docking facilities, such as in the event that the boater wishes to partake in sunbathing at a beach or hiking at the shore, for instance. On such occasions, shore anchors are commonly used for preventing the vessel from floating away while removing the need to put the vessel aground.
Examples of land anchors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,064 to Mestas and U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,458 to Owen. Each of these land anchors has a unitary elongated spike-like anchor rod extending the length of the anchor. A hammer element is captured on the anchor rod to slide between two anvils along a portion of the anchor rod length. In order to secure the anchor to the ground, the pointed lower end of the anchor rod is placed in contact with the ground and the hammer element is repeatedly slid between the anvils into striking engagement with the lower of the two anvils, also known as the drive anvil. Each time the hammer element strikes the drive anvil, the anchor rod is driven further into the ground. Opposite ends of a rode are tied to the vessel and the embedded anchor, respectively, to secure the vessel.
One problem associated with conventional land anchors is their poor stowability. Conventional land anchors often have lengths as great as about four feet. On small ships, where room may be very limited and space cramped, there is great desire to maximize available space. Accordingly, it would be an improvement in the art to provide a land anchor which has sufficient length to permit repeated striking movement of a captured hammer along a shaft of the anchor, yet which requires less stowage space during storage than conventional land anchors.
It is therefore one of the objects of this invention to provide a land anchor that is collapsible into a compact state to facilitate its stowage, especially stowage on a boat.
It is another object of this invention to provide a boat that either carries or is docked with the land anchor of this invention.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of using the land anchor of this invention to dock a boat to the earth or other stationary or stable objects, or the like.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve foregoing objects, and in accordance with the purposes of the invention as embodied and broadly described in this document, a collapsible land anchor is provided. According to an aspect of the invention, the collapsible land anchor comprises an anchor body having a tapered bottom end portion and a top end portion. The anchor body is provided with a cavity extending longitudinally between the tapered bottom end portion and the top end portion. A drive anvil is coupled to the top end portion of the anchor body. The collapsible land anchor further comprises a runner member slidable longitudinally across the drive anvil between an operative position and a collapsed position. A retraction anvil is coupled to the top end portion of the runner member. A hammer weight is carried on and preferably captured by the runner member.
In its operative position, at least a portion of the length of the runner member extends beyond the drive anvil away from the cavity of the anchor body to space the drive anvil apart from the retraction anvil. A locking mechanism is provided for locking the runner member in the operative position. The hammer weight is capable of sliding along the runner member between the drive anvil and the retraction anvil when the runner member is in the operative position. By repeatedly striking the hammer weight into the drive anvil, the anchor body may be driven into the ground or other stationary bodies. By pulling or striking the hammer weight against the retraction anvil with sufficient force, the anchor body may be dislodged from the ground. The locking member is capable of being disengaged to allow movement of the runner member towards the anchor body and into the collapsed position, in which at least a portion of the length of the runner member is stowed in the cavity of the anchor body. Preferably, the locking member is capable of being re-engaged for locking the runner member in the collapsed position.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a boat is provided which carries or is docked with the land anchor of this invention. Preferably, but optionally, a rode, such as a mooring or tether, is used to interconnect the boat to the land anchor.
In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, a method is provided for docking a boat to the land or a stationary or stable body, such as a dock or the like with the use of the land anchor of this invention.
In accordance with a further aspect of this invention, there is provided a novel rode-tying member that may be used with a collapsible or non-collapsible land anchor.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description of the preferred embodiments and methods that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.